What do you think God wants us to learn about ants? Character traits or physical traits? As I tell you about ants, be thinking of their character traits.

Ants are social insects, which means they live in large colonies or groups. Some colonies consist of millions of ants.

Ants are hard workers. There are three types of ants in each species: the queen, sterile female workers, and males. Every ant has a job. Worker ants may have one job or several jobs. They may keep the same job all their lives or change jobs from time to time.

Some workers gather food for the colony. When an ant finds food, it lays down a scent trail for others to follow to the food.

Some ants store the food they harvest in special chambers in the nest.

Other workers feed and care for the queen and her developing young.

Still others build the chambers and tunnels. They use their saliva to make the dirt walls hard.

Some worker ants are soldiers. They defend the colony and fight off their enemies (other ants or other kinds of insects).

The Bible says:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men (Colossians 3:23)

Most ant species build underground nests. Worker ants dig tunnels and chambers, or rooms, in the soil. As the colony grows, workers add more tunnels and chambers to the nest. If you watch ants for any length of time, you will see that they really do communicate with each other—and very effectively, too!

Ant colonies can grow to be quite large. Some tropical ants build downward to make more room. Their nests may reach twenty feet deep/high. A group of nests may cover an area as large as a tennis court. Millions of ants may live in these nests.

Chambers:

The queen has her own chamber for laying eggs.

Some chambers are nurseries for the growing young.

Food is stored in other chambers.

Still other chambers are resting places for hard-working ants.

Watch this amazing video about a giant ant colony.

Scientists pour ten tons of cement down a giant ant colony and then excavate it. The ants removed forty tons of material to build this enormous colony!

This colony is the equivalent of the Great Wall of China. The ants also built purge vents all throughout the colony to allow their carbon dioxide to escape and fresh air to enter—they built their own air-conditioning system!

Ants are Wise

Who has a garden this year? When I was a little girl we worked in the garden all summer. Once the plants were harvested, we “put up” beans, tomatoes, apples, etc., made jelly and jam, etc., to have food in the winter time.

In Bible times and pioneer days, almost every family had to plant a garden in the spring in order to have enough food for the next winter.

Ants also work in anticipation of future needs, gathering and storing food in warm weather, before winter comes.

It [the ant] has no commander, no overseer or ruler, the ant stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. (Proverbs 6:7)

Ants, known for being industrious, are commended by God for their initiative. Ants have no leader—no commander to direct them, no overseer to inspect their work, no ruler to prod them on. People who act only when commanded to do not possess wisdom.

Do you have to be organized to make a garden? Does it take work, or do you just throw the seeds out in the yard??

Parasol Ants Can Grow a Garden

Parasol ants carry leaves like umbrellas. Then they find a place to plant their garden. They chew the leaves and make a pulp (that makes garden soil); then fungus grows on the pulp, which makes food for the ant colony.

Ants Cooperate

When the Amazon jungle floods, the ants have to protect the queen ant and her eggs from the water. Here is a photo of ants cooperating by linking their legs together to build a “boat” to protect their queen. Watch this video.

Oh, I love this! This is wonderful! I am definitely going to use this. We have a CD by Judy Rogers with the song “Go To the Ant” that my girls love. This is an exceptional way to expand their knowledge about the ant’s character (and what God wants ours to be.) Thanks so much!

This was great! Thanks for sharing. You whats nice when you share these lessons is that for those who have a hard time understanding the process of Heart of Wisdom they can use theses until they can do it themselves.

I was so fasinated by these ants I posted it on my facebook. I did offer to send the link so they can visit your site and see the lesson.

Thank you so very much!! Will definitely use this lesson! I also have a cd by Judy Rogers called Go to the Ant and a coloring book by her and Vic Lockman so this is such a blessing to me for my children.

Yes, please do post more! I am currently using your Heart of Wisdom unit studies and have read your Teaching Approach book but just don’t think I’m as good at coming up with unit studies as you are! You are gifted with that, I think. I will use whatever you post and appreciate it very much.

Are you kidding me? A unit study posted by Robin using the Heart Of Wisdom Approach! WOOHOOOOOO! Not to mention we will be studying Ants soon, so this is incredibly timely for me! Thank you so much Robin. Anytime you want to post lesson plans like this one, please do. As a new homeschooling mom using HOW this is super helpful for me! 🙂

Very nice post—very well done! God teaches us so much in nature. My father is a beekeeper and I’ve seen very similar traits with bees–diligence, cooperation & hard work. For years, I had an observation hive in my bedroom. I could watch them for hours.
thanks,
Scott

You bet we want you to post more!!! It’s people like us who encourage people like you to share with us lessons that we can share with other people who can benefit!!! Sorry. Just trying to give you a bit of a boost! My 7yr old boy is fascinated with ants. My older boy’s name is Andrew but we’ve always known him as “Ants”…LOL.
Keep posting Robin….and God give you wisdom for more interesting lessons!

Thanks Robin! We love this, my son(8) and I. we will definitely be using for our upcoming Science/Nature lesson. With all the information you have already put up for us it makes things that much easier & backing it up with the Bible verses puts a positive result on the lesson. We would love more of these in the future please!

Thanks Robin l have just been blessed by your exposition on the ant. Am doing my quiet time and now decided to browse on it thank God l got points that l can share with brethren in my fellowship. I will truly want any expository lessons from you. Thanks.

Really enjoyed all the lesson ideas, worked really well. Did purchase go to the ant cd by Judy Rogers. Would not recommend it, mentions man with a gun and you hear an actual gunshot, highly inappropriate with all gun violence against children.

I.ve been inspired by Ants all my life and started the “Ant wisdom creations” project a year ago. Today I stumbled on this page and it is awesome to know how many people around the world get the same message on different levels. If people really study the wisdom of the ants, they will even unlock the secret to how the pyramids were built.

I just read Proverbs 6:6 and decided to find out more about ants then I found your site. It has help me to modify my thinking and encourages me emulate the characters of ants in my decision to greatness.

Robin, I have always taught primary SS and this week finding myself leading and adult class…so I did what I always do ..seek out pinterest…and found this wonderful take on the “Wisdom” of the Ants life. While The class will be more study related to Bible texts..believe this to be a great ice breaker..lead in…and will definitely help me to transition Thank you for sharing your insights

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